(Максим Дупешко)

Maksym holds a degree in philology from Chernivtsi National University and has been actively involved in the literary scene of his hometown of Chernivtsi since his student days. His exemplary debut novel A Story Worthy of a Whole Apple Orchard, which catapulted him to national literary recognition, is scheduled to be followed by a short story collection, as well as a second novel about Chernivtsi in the volatile 1990s.

Born 1985 in Chernivtsi, Ukraine.
Currently resides in Chernivtsi, Ukraine.

A heartfelt ode to the Ukrainian city in which the author was born and raised, A Story Worth a Whole Apple Orchard is a tale of young love in Chernivtsi (Cernăuți, Czernowitz), a city that has historically sat at the crossroads of various empires. The relationship of young Ukrainian Pavel Bachinsky, whose father ardently longs for the return of Austro-Hungarian rule, and a young Jewish woman, Dora Capman, unfolds during the culturally variegated 1930s and 1940s, when Ukrainian, Romanian, Yiddish, and German were spoken interchangeably in the city’s streets. The city’s occupation by the Red Army, its conversion into a pit stop for Soviet troops, and the subsequent ghettoization of its Jews by the Romanian government are narrated by a young teen of the 1990s to whom Pavel relates his story in his old age. A slim and deftly lyrical novel, Dupeshko’s Apple Orchard meanders forward and backward in time in its recounting of lives, events, and loyalties. It is a multigenerational story of different cultures touching, intersecting, competing, conflicting, and complementing, which raises the question whether the war that supposedly ended in 1945 continues till this day.
Translation sample available.

Key words: literary fiction, historical fiction, Chernivtsi-Czernowitz, WWII, love story

Original publication: «Історія, ватра цілого яблуневого саду», Books XXI, 2017

Anticipated word count: 50,000

English rights holder: Author